From the archive

Mr Bevan indicts the 'synthetic villains'

Mr Selwyn Lloyd was bound to seem pedestrian beside Mr Bevan. He was unfortunate to be drawn against Labour's brilliant swordsman in the opening round of the two-day contest on Suez. Here was Mr Bevan with his quicksilver dialectical gifts presented with such a case against a Government as will probably not fall to him again in his lifetime.

He jumped to his chance and for an hour employed every weapon in his armoury - raillery, sarcasm, and wit. These were his auxiliaries in developing what was, fundamentally, a closely reasoned indictment of the Government. He held the House captive. The light Celtic voice, the trick of brushing back a fallen forelock from his brow, the mannerism of driving an argument home by stabbing the air with an index finger - the House experienced all this, and so felt the full impact of the man's personality.

There was no savage invective. How little provocative he was to be seen in the little interruption he suffered. He sat down to a great surge of Labour cheers. Mr Gaitskell shook him by the hand. Mr James Griffiths was too moved to have a clear idea of how to show his admiration.

The Old Claim

Mr Selwyn Lloyd strove to substantiate his claims that the Government had stopped a war and compelled the UN to set up an international force. This was preceded by a documented attempt to prove that there had been no collusion with Israel. It really resolved itself into the old claim that the Government did not incite Israel. This, in the eyes of Mr Bevan, fell short of a denial that the Government had knowledge that Israel was to attack Egypt. [The foreign secretary's] contention that there would have been no UN force but for our intervention met with nothing but mocking laughter. His speech could not save him from cries of "Resign" when he concluded.

'Freudian Lapses'

Mr Bevan began merrily enough by shedding a new light on the mystery of Mr Butler. If Mr Bevan is right, much in Mr Butler's behaviour is to be explained by "Freudian lapses". That amused everybody, including Mr Butler. The member for Ebbw Vale moved into action with an inimitably satirical examination of the changing objectives which the Government assigned to its operations, coupled with an exposure of how in failing to attain them the Government had managed to insult the United States, affront Commonwealth countries, and make the Arab nations pro-Nasser.

Certainly, none of this was new, but in Mr Bevan's hands it became both diverting and damaging to the Government. Mr Bevan also applied himself to the charge of collusion. He could not find the coming and going between French and British Ministers explicable except on the hypothesis that something was being cooked up. Did the French know, he asked. Did they tell the British Government that there was to be an attack on Egypt?

Then Mr Bevan, to everybody's entertainment, transposed his inquiries to a key of pure comedy. Did Marianne take John Bull to an unknown rendezvous? All this was done in a light, lilting voice amid shouts of laughter. And then the crown: Did Marianne deceive John Bull or seduce him? The laughter now was unbounded.

Mr Bevan was not without his serious moments. He returned to his old theme that in this changing world ,peoples are seeking social and political ends that cannot be realised by armed force.

Not long afterwards Captain Waterhouse, the leader of the Suez Tories, was announcing that he would abstain on tonight's division [and] Mr Angus Maude said he could not give an unconditional vote of confidence to the Government.

About this article

From the archive: Mr Bevan indicts the 'synthetic villains'

This article was published on
the Guardian website
at 19.13 EST on Wednesday 5 December 1956.
It was last modified at 19.13 EDT on Wednesday 2 May 2007.
It was first published at 19.13 EDT on Wednesday 2 May 2007.